September 3, 2015

Welp I blinked and college football season is already here. And thank God because we needed a distraction from freaking Deflategate or whatever nonsense Roger Goodell is up to. The first week is always interesting because you have a combination of intriguing games and non-competitive games featuring Pac-12 teams versus Grambling (Looking at you Cal). Don't let that bother you though and enjoy the weekend!

Thursday, September 3rdNorth Carolina vs South Carolina (Charlotte) 6:00: (ESPN- Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Kaylee Hartung): Why South Carolina is always the first game of the season pisses me off. Get all excited for the college football season and there's South Carolina and some patsy in the way. Thankfully the opening Thursday has more than these two so let's just move on.

OK State at Central Michgian 7:00 (ESPNU- Adam Amin, Kelly Stouffer, Olivia Harlan): Ready for some MACtion? Of course you are! OK State is looking to bounce back after a terrible 2014 season and traveling to Central Michigan is going to be a tough way to start the year. Central Michigan is coming off a bowl game and should be pretty good again this year.

Michigan at Utah 8:30 (FS1- Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, Molly McGrath): Gut feeling: Michigan wins this game, everyone gets excited about them, and then they finish the year 6-7. Utah meanwhile should be one of the best teams in the Pac-12 this year but this is still a tough game to start out with even if they did beat Michigan last year in the big house.

June 16, 2015

49er16: I like how the Blue Jays recently said, "screw it we'll pound teams with our offense and not let our bullpen blow this game". And it's worked! Because of their 11-game winning streak they're now only 3 games back and over .500.

The Colonel: I love how polar opposite the Blue Jays are. Great offense while the pitching couldn't be any different. And that pitching staff is bad. They give up a home run every 9 innings while only leaving 70% of runners on base. They're going to be an interesting team at the deadline.

49er16: The problem with today's baseball is that with the extra wild card there's hardly any sellers and more buyers. The Blue Jays certainly have the prospects to make a trade. But do the Blue Jays just call up Norris and Sanchez instead of selling? Or do they trade someone like Pentecost for a pitcher?

The Colonel: I think at the very least they need to trade lower end prospects for some bullpen help. Both the White Sox and A's have relievers that could help Toronto.

49er16: Speaking of the AL East, I'm enjoying how bad Boston is. They're bad defensively, offensively, and in the field. Ortiz is finally looking like an old man who can't hit lefties. Pablo is way out of shape. Hanley doesn't give a shit out in the field. They stupidly traded for and extended Rick Porcello who's always been a disappointment. What a delight.

The Colonel: You forgot to mention Wade Miley feuding with John Farrell in the dugout. I like how they can't find a position for Hanley when it doesn't matter since he doesn't give a shit about playing defense.

49er16: To me Hanley is more of a poison than Pablo. Pablo is a good guy who just has an appetite. Hanley with his indifference can bring a whole team down. Going to be funny when they trade all these players to Los Angeles.

The Colonel: I don't think the Dodgers are going to save their ass this year. There's no Adrian Gonzalez to sweeten up the deal.

The Colonel: A couple of points: 1) Deadspin reported a while ago the Astros security on their files was vulnerable. Why haven't they fixed that problem yet? 2) This is the Patriots Spygate. This is fucking corporate espionage. That's why the FBI is investigating.

49er16: My favorite points from the story: 1) According to the NY Times this was not a sophisticated hack. 2) The Cardinals wanted revenge against Luhnow for making the Cardinals better while he was there. 3) Luhnow never changed his passwords since going from the Cardinals to Houston. Come on Jeff, even my father knows to change his password when he went from one job to another.

The Colonel: Now I wonder how baseball handles this? They'll of course wait until the investigation is over but from there what do they do? Do they take draft picks away from the Cardinals? Suspend their GM? Fine them? What?

49er16: MLB will give Alex Rodriguez a year long suspension for this.

The Colonel: Ha! MLB is so mad they're going to impose a salary cap on the players!

49er16: In all seriousness, everyone needs to follow @BaseballsBestFans right at this moment.

The Colonel: "DURR OTHER TEAMS ARE JUST JEALOUS OF THE CARDINALS! THEY'RE COWARDS WHO HAVE TO GET THE FBI INVOLVED TO STOP THE CARDS!"

June 8, 2015

49er16: The MLB Draft is tonight and I've read all the mock drafts and I gotta admit, I still have no idea who'll the Giants will select and who is the best player in the draft?

The Colonel: No one ever knows who the Giants are picking. They play everything close to the vest and they usually draft someone who isn't that high up on everyone else's boards (hello Joe Panik). What cracks me up about the draft is when they decide to hold it and the fact that the MLB Network never runs any pre-draft "hey these are the players to look out for" coverage.

49er16: They do but it's aired 2 minutes before the draft is aired. The MLB draft is such a weird endeavor in that most people have never heard of these guys being drafted and some of the guys that are drafted are still playing in the college baseball world series. Could you imagine if the NBA had their draft in the middle of the NCAA tournament.

The Colonel: "Congrats Justice Winslow on making it to the final 4. Also tell us what it's like being drafted by the New York Knicks?"

49er16: DJ Gallo had a fun post about what would happen if some current stars where drafted by different teams. Imagine Mike Trout on the Cardinals or Dustin Pedroia on the Yankees? The horror, the horror.

The Colonel: Man did a lot of team, including the Giants, whiff on Trout. The Mariners took Dustin Ackley at number 2 instead. Woof.

May 20, 2015

49er16: You see the A's are thinking about bringing back Ron Washington to help improve their putrid defense? "Playing first base isn't hard Scott. Tell him Wash."

The Colonel: "It's incredibly hard." In all seriousness I'm shocked that the A's defense is bad. Who knew going from Josh Donaldson and Jed Lowrie to Brett Lawrie and Marcus Semien would turn the A's defense into a putrid defense?

49er16: That last game Scott Kazmir pitched he looked like he was ready to strangle poor old Marcus Semien for making another throwing error. The A's have also been incredibly unlucky. Their record in 1-run games is like 2-16.

The Colonel: The A's relievers have been bad this year. Hard to win one run games when your bullpen blows leads in the 7th and 8th innings.

The Colonel: The Rockies are horrible again and Troy Tuloqitzki's name is being brought up again in trade talks. I agree with Fangraphs that Tulo's trade market basically comes down to a big market team that can take on his huge contract but can throw in some good prospects. I can't believe though Dave Cameron didn't mention the Dodgers as a trade partner. They have the budget and prospects to send to Colorado.

49er16: If I were the Rockies, I would ask for Alex Guerrero and Joc Pederson and a pitching prospect and see if the Dodgers say yes.

The Colonel: The Mets arguably have the best package for Tulo. They could trade a trio of pitching prospects. But do the Rockies really need pitching prospects? They have guys like Eddie Butler who are suppose to be good and look good in the minors and then bomb once they get to Colorado.

49er16: Well that brings up the age old question about Colorado. Could Cy Young himself even be a successful pitcher in that park? And what gets me is that park seems to ruin pitchers even when they leave and play on the road.

The Colonel: I go back to what Jim Leyland said about Coors Field after his one year managing there, "That ain't baseball." And he's right.

49er16: Well when they finally trade Tulo or Gonzalez they'll receive another pitching prospect to be ruined by the altitude.

The Colonel: I have a feeling that team is never going to have sustained success unless they play in a dome because that field chews up too many pitchers to keep being good for a long stretch.

49er16: Anything else we need to hit upon today?

The Colonel: Nah, I've got a bagel that I've been staring at for an hour so it's time for me to go.